I quit (kind of)

I canceled my gym membership yesterday. I tried to stick it out, really I did, mainly because of the lovely reader who gave me great advice and told me that eventually I wouldn’t hate the gym…I believe her, but I think in this instance it wouldn’t have happened. I lasted for a month, and for now I’m done.

A variety of things led to this decision—mainly the fact that it was super crowded in the early evening when I workout, and I really hated either having to wait for equipment or having people stand and stare at me as they waited for the equipment I was using. I would have switched and done my workout in the morning except this gym is only open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (weird) and that doesn’t really work with my schedule. Also, I found the entire environment to be uncomfortable and it was making me dread exercising, and that’s unlike me. I figured it would be better to save the money I was spending on a gym membership rather than spend it on something I wasn’t even enjoying. I’d join a different gym if there were another in town that wasn’t crazy expensive. Let’s not forget that I live in the middle of nowhere.

But do not fear: I am totally going to be a rockstar in my house! I do have my elliptical and have discovered a route through town that has streetlights along 98 percent of the roads so I can still run in the evenings. And let’s not forget weekends and the occasional days when I am home before dark. Really, the more I think about this the more I’m just determined to make it work until spring.

I have also discovered exercise opportunities at work that I didn’t know existed. For instance, today the coworker and I are going to a weight lifting class that we tried out last week during the lunch hour. It’s a free class, like the yoga class, that they have on Tuesdays and Fridays. Rock on! I think it’s called Body Flex or something like that. Anyhow, I’m finding that I’m much happier figuring out alternatives to the gym than I actually was about going to the gym. So for now, that’s my solution.

And yes, yes I did buy Britney Spears’ new album this morning. I can’t lie.